My Ah-Ha Moment!

Okay, I was studying my Forgiven and Set Free post-abortion Bible Study for Women, by Linda Cochrane, when one verse just hit me and I was just in Awe of God. The chapter is over the different names of God which describe his character, I love studying this stuff. The name today was Jehovah-Shammah (God, who is there).

With that we should take such comfort that he is with us at all times through everything we go through the good, the bad and the ugly, he experiences it with us, "Never does he leave us or forsake us" (Hebrews 13:5).He is the only One that will never turn his back on us. We can't say that about any human, no matter how sincere they are humans will let us down, that's why we should not put anyone on a pedestal or in the place that God belongs in our lives. He also states that promise in Deuteronomy 31:6. We know that by the statement in John 14:16-18, where he promises to send the Holy Spirit that resides in us FOREVER!! We are His for life and eternity.

So, here is the Verse that jumped out at me, 1 Chronicles 28:9 9 "And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever." King David is passing on the crown and charging Solomon with the plans to build the Temple for God. We can take on the same charge and the temple is our body, spirit and mind. I'll show you how this verse spoke to me.

1)"acknowledge the God of your father"-we have to choose God and give him the controls of our life.
2)"serve him"-we can't serve man, money or anything else that sits itself up before God those are idols, get rid of them and worship God and put him before all things.
3)with "wholehearted devotion"-WOW! He wants our WHOLE heart, not 1/4, 1/2 or 3/4 he wants it all. He can and will heal all the hurts of our heart that have occurred in our lifetime, if we choose to let him, and do the hard work of bringing it back, offering forgiveness to all that have offended us and giving it all to God he is the judge and we need to let him deal with it. Remember the heart is deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9) Take warning and ask God to heal it (Isiah 61:1-3).
4)"with a willing mind"-there is so much in the Bible about our minds and the importance of filling them with God's word and good thing, we have to renew our mind and get rid of all the trash, lies and junk, we need to Go GREEN with our minds! Here are a few verses to check out on this: Romans 8:5-8,12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 10:5-6; Colossians 3 the entire chapter is good!
5)the "LORD searches every heart and understands the motive behind the thoughts." this is another WOW phrase for me! He is the only on the completely knows and understands us and why we made/make the decisions that we do. I am in awe, Thank you Jesus, my heart is pounding right now with such Joy, that he was there with me and understood me even when I didn't understand myself, but HE does and still loves me unconditionally. This is why he have to search our hearts because that is the bottom line behind our motives, we react based on feelings and don't reason or think through the consequences of our actions. So, when our minds are polluted and full of lies our heart deceives us and we make poor choices that can haunt us for a lifetime. But, Glory to God that through the blood of Jesus we can renew our minds and hearts we are a new creation in Him (Colossians 3:5-14). Just Let Go and Let GOD!
6)"seek him, he will be found"-he is there patiently waiting on us to ask him into our lives, his way is so much better and there is true Freedom in Christ. (Galatians 5:1)
7)"if you forsake him, he will reject you forever"-take this very seriously it is a life and death decision. I believe Hell is a real place and God leaves it up to us to decide on how we want to live...so choose life...choose Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. He doesn't want anyone to parish. (John 3:16, salvation Romans 10:9-13).

God Bless
Thank you Jesus for loving me and giving me freedom and eternal life, I can't wait to be with you! All the Glory is Yours.

go to www.biblegateway.com if you want to look up referenced passages.

Why Mid Cities Pregnancy Center?

I want my life to count, to be purposeful but most of all I want to give back to God in some capacity for what He has done for me in my lifetime. He has given me Eternal life because I turned over my life to him in September of 1997 I'm secure in that decision and ready for eternity I'm not afraid of dying and ready if he should call me home. It has been a great journey and I can't wait for what we are going to do in the next year and beyond. I've had to revisit my past, the hurts, heartache, poor choices, guilt, shame and all that stuff that comes with sin and living a self centered life, it is a heavy burden to carry, thankfully I don't have to carry it. He also took all that from me, when I finally agreed to give it to Him, I now walk a little lighter (only in the burden department, my weight is still another issue!) and proud to be a Christ follower. I want everyone to experience the Grace, Mercy and Love that only Jesus can give us. I hope through my sharing if anyone else is struggling with these same issues they can see and receive the same as I have. For we are a new creation in Christ, the old is gone, Thank you Jesus for that!

So, what does a Pregnancy center have to do with all that? When I was 18 I headed to Dallas, Texas from small town Amarillo where I grew up hoping to find love, happiness etc...but I only found myself faced with a decision to make only one month into junior college...I was pregnant and in my mind there was only one choice...abortion. So, that one choice started my downward spiral of poor choices and bad decisions. I continued to do it "my way" which was obviously the wrong way for the next 9 years. That is a little of my history, I won't bore you with all the details right now anyway.

In September of 1997, when my husband, Doug, and I started attending Fellowship of the Parks and I gave my life to God, I struggled in my walk because of the choices and felt like there was no way God would ever forgive my for my horrible sins, we tend to lump our sins into categories but fortunately for us God sees all sin the same. I finally came to understand Jesus' love and forgiveness through years of Bible studies and digging up all the ugly stuff, through all that God brought "beauty from ashes" (Isaiah 61:3) out of my life.

Here I am at a point in my life where I want to reach into the lives of other young girls that have found themselves with a decision to make, my prayer is that God will use my life story to encourage them to make the right choice and choose life. I don't want anyone to have to live with the emotional, and spiritual turmoil that the choice of abortion does to a women, they don't tell you that at Planned Parenthood. Through my studying so far in the training manual I see so clearly where God's hand was on me and protecting me all those years from diseases, infertility and I shutter to think what else could have happened to me. Jeremiah 29:11 states "I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." That promise is for everyone!

The hardest thing so far has been the videos I've had to watch which are very detailed in all the abortion techiques. I was so ignorant and uneducated when I made my decision. Whoever said "ignorance is bliss" is stupid, but I need to know and be educated so no one walks away saying they didn't know how it was performed and how horrific it is on the baby. But here is my comfort from my reading today:

1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." What a great reminder for me today to not let Satan try to sidetrack me in my attempt to do the right thing, because watching those videos I had a moment of doubt but had to remind myself that I am not the person I use to be.
Thank you Jesus for your love and the ultimate sacrifice of giving your life for me so that I may live.
You are my HERO and SAVIOR!